The South Dakota School of Mines and Technology robotics team recently competed against 28 teams at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Region 5 competition in Lubbock, Texas. The School of Mines entered two robots, Two Face and Tofu Duck.
The competition task was to construct a land-based robot which could autonomously transport toxic containers from multiple locations to a remote processing area. Due to the high risk of human infection, it is desirable to transport waste from multiple city sites to a remote processing facility using autonomous unmanned transport. The competition had simulated toxic containers to be transported on an eight foot by eight foot course.
Each team was to design and build an autonomous robot that could detect and transport a container from each of the four corners of the course to the assigned square area in the center of the course. The robot had to visit all four corners, pick up the four cargo containers and transport them to their correct positions. The desired order of pickup was determined at the start of each round and varied from round to round.
The top 10 teams from the morning competition moved to the final competition in the afternoon. The Tofu Duck navigated by following the course edge but miscalculated and ran off the course. Two Face tracked the course perfectly but lost its grip on the simulated toxic containers placing third in the morning session qualifying for the final round. After stiff competition in the final round, Two Face tied for sixth place overall.
The team members: Tony Adams (computer engineering, Grand Forks, N.D.), Brady Begeman (computer engineering, Mahtomedi, Minn.), Mark Cullison (mechanical engineering, Sioux Falls), Ian Hibbard (computer engineering, Sioux Falls), Garrett Kirkpatrick (electrical engineering, Chamberlain), Ryan Kroetch (electrical engineering, Rapid City), Colton Manville (computer science, Lyman, Neb.), Andrew McGuire (computer engineering, Sioux Falls), Scott Morris (computer engineering, Belle Fourche), Jeff Olsen (computer engineering, Rochester, Minn), Andrew Sell (electrical engineering, Delano, Minn.), Joe St. Amand (computer science, Waconia, Minn.).
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